Monday, August 16, 2010

The Highly Anticipated Indian Street Dog Exposé

Street Dogs are a well-known problem within India. As an outsider, I had no idea they existed and certainly didn't expect so many. The stray dog population is terrifying, saddening, and far too prevalent.

A few days ago, we found ourselves in a park for the previously mentioned TWU Amazing Race games. A street dog was present for those as well. It's odd how quickly the below goes from absolutely shocking to expected.

On my first day here, I went out with a few people to explore the surroundings. We headed to 100 ft road and started to explore the shops. This, like I imagine much of the country, is a fairly dense area.

Perhaps a bit off topic, but important nonetheless -- there aren't very many crosswalks here. I haven't seen any lights on the few crosswalks that do exist. This certainly is a giant difference from being in the West. The receipe for a successful journey to the other side of the street essentially boils down to this scientific process:

Wait for a break

Run like your life depends on it...because it does

After we miraculously crossed the street, we met an unbelievably scary pack of street dogs. Thank goodness they stayed away from us all. Another dog was not so lucky, as they chased him into traffic. Yikes.

Most of the time they do seem fairly harmless. The common saying is present here as well: "they're more scared of you than you are of them." I did see one dog jump on a guy during our 100 ft road outing, however. I snapped this rather dark and terrible picture as the dog was running away. It took two people to kick the dog off the person.